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On the last day of China’s 16th Party Congress meeting more than 2,000 delegates elected 198 full and 158 alternate members, and about 180 of whom were new faces. Those 356 members will select top leaders for the next five years. According to two congress delegates, Hu Jintao was the top vote getter, but it was unclear how many votes he collected. Li said that "I would not underestimate him (Hu). Shanghai Gang controls the Political Bureau, but Hu Jintao’s people are the largest group in the Central Committee. Hu may be more powerful than he appears."

This article evaluated Jiang's achievements and failures during his 13 years governing China. Cheng Li, professor of government and Woodrow Wilson Fellow, said "Jiang's weakness is his strength. He relied on think tanks. He talks to other people." Jiang’s achievements included kept the relationship relatively steady through many difficult incidents with the U.S., raised China international stature by joining the WTO, and won the right to host the 2008 Olympics. However, Jiang’s failures included corruption, high unemployment rate and increased disparity between rich and poor.

Cheng Li, professor of government and Woodrow Wilson fellow was quoted in an article that focused on Hu Jintao who will take over as president in March.

This article quoted Cheng Li, China expert and government professor, and focused on Hu Jintao who was the only one of China's top seven leaders returned to office at the Communist Party's 16th Congress in Beijing.

Mitchell Stevens, Associate Professor of Sociology, will discuss "Community and Bureaucracy at Hamilton," as the next speaker in the Faculty Lecture Series, on Friday, Nov. 15, at 4:10 p.m., in the Red Pit at Kirner-Johnson. Stevens explains, "'Community'" is the wrong referent image for organizational life at Hamilton. The frequent invocation of "'community'" in organizational discourse abets rather than diminishes campus problems. The College is better understood as a bureaucracy," says Stevens. "Once relieved of its unsavory affective baggage, bureaucracy is a useful lens for assessing some of the College's chronic troubles and greatest strengths." The lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty. A reception will follow at Café Opus.

Hamilton College Professor of Government Cheng Li was interviewed twice on MSNBC for news on China’s recent political changes. Li said, “Evidence suggests that Hu (Jintau, the new Communist party boss) and Zeng (Quihong the old party organizer) have formed a relationship that is both competitive and cooperative.” Also, Li commented on how Jiang Zemin, China’s president, handled the recent discovery of a photograph taken at the Tianneman Square protests, two weeks before the infamous Massacre, picturing Wen Jiabo, the new Chinese premier, trying to appease student dissenters. Li stated, “Jiang certainly saw the picture and the rumours said that he was actually impressed by the way Wen handled the situation.”

Professor of Government and Chinese political expert Cheng Li commented for a recent MSNBC article concerning corruption in Chinese society and politics. Wu Guanzheng, the leader of China’s prosperous providence of Shandong, is, according to Li, a rising star and a capable leader; this will lead to his success as the official leader of the Communist Party battle against crime and corruption in China.

A recent article in the London Guardian featured Hamilton College’s role in archaeology Professor Mark Horton’s discovery of the first sugar plantation. Horton, a professor at the University of Bristol, said the map leading to the discovery was located in the Jefferson papers, a collection of ancient maps and letters reserved at Hamilton College. The map, which dates back to 1688, shows a river, a road, fields and settlements. The plantation was located in St. Kitts, the first English colony in the Caribbean.

Hamilton College will spend $125,000 over the next several months to replace all six of its 15-passenger vans that are used to transport students.

Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, has been invited to deliver the Swarthmore College annual Charles E. Gilbert Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 14. The Gilbert Lecture is sponsored by the Center for Social and Policy Studies and the Department of Political Science. Klinkner's topic is "Is the Old Racism Really Dead? An Analysis of Anti-Miscegenation Referenda in Alabama and South Carolina." Previous lecturers include Charles O. Jones of the University of Wisconsin and Theda Skocpol and Robert Putnam of Harvard University. All are past presidents of the American Political Science Association.